On this 14th Anniversary of 9/11, healthcare providers of all disciplines should remember the lessons about death and dying on 9/11, elucidated in my 2013 paper: “The End-of-Life Experiences of 9/11 Civilians: Death and Dying in the World Trade Center.” (See: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24416875)

The powerful lesson from those trapped and dying in the World Trade Center 14 years ago this morning was truth-telling. These tragic civilians still had decisions to make, and needed the truth so they could make decisions about where to die and how to die. In the North Tower, civilians who called emergency operators by dialing 9-1-1 were told: “Stay where you are”, which was a high-rise fire script that was completely inappropriate for what was unfolding on impact floors. Trapped civilians — who realized they were at the end of life — made other decisions: they exercised their right to palliative approaches to an imminent death by breaking windows (when they were told not to) and jumping. Some made the choice to call loved ones and guarantee that their coordinates and circumstances were known. These were short calls, as time was short, with a consistent message: they told a loved one that they were trapped in a fire; they couldn’t get out; and they loved them. Voicemails later became critical forensic evidence in deaths that were classified as homicides.

In the South Tower, hit second, but first to collapse, civilians had a close-up view to the horrors unfolding in the North Tower, and perceived their lives were threatened in the 16 minutes prior to their own tower being hit. Despite hearing an intercom message that their building “was secure” and to “return to your offices”, many made autonomous choices to self-evacuate and leave the building, saving themselves from being trapped on impact floors. Some made a different choice in those 16 minutes: they made “reassurance calls” to family members with a consistent message that they were in the “other building” (Tower 2), and they were safe. Some of those calls delayed evacuation, but illustrate that connection and communication was a priority. Those in the South Tower who were trapped also made calls to 9-1-1 operators demanding to know whether firefighters would get to them in time as their environment deteriorated, but they were denied proper end-of-life dialogues. Instead of being asked by a skilled responder: “Is there someone I can call for you?” when callers explained they could no longer breathe, they were asked to spell their names, and even transferred or put on hold. This interfered with critical closure calls many would have made to family members instead of dying on hold with a 9-1-1 operator. Some callers simply called family and died on the phone with their loved ones. Several of these calls are available in the public record: (http://www.nytimes.com/packages/khtml/2006/03/31/nyregion/20060331_TAPES_AUDIOSS.html
and http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/11/us/11cnd-moussaoui.html?_r= )

The lessons learned about death and dying on this terrible morning on September 11, 2001, are not new: they reinforce what end of life experts have known for over 40 years (See: Kubler-Ross, E., 1969 On Death and Dying. New York: Macmillan). People at the end of life want the truth so they can make choices about how to die and where to die.

In recent years, endocrinologists have found themselves in the position of needing to have end-of-life discussions. Especially those who deal with end-stage renal patients who are not transplant candidates, or patients with devastating diagnoses such as anaplastic thyroid cancer (See http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23130564). If you can’t tell the truth, reach out to a colleague who is expert in end-of-life dialogues so you can allow patients to make critical decisions. Trapped civilians who were in the towers teach us that even in the most imminent and dire circumstances, we can still make a myriad of end-of life decisions so long as we are told the truth.